Garminama Event in GK2 Highlights Extreme Heat Toll on Delhi Daily Wage Workers
Storytellers and community members gathered at Depot 48 in GK2 on Saturday for Garminama, an event organised to highlight the severe toll of extreme heat on daily wage earners and outdoor workers across Delhi. The event brought to life real-life experiences documented through Greenpeace India’s Garmi Khata, or Heat Registry.
Around 40 people across Delhi, including residents from middle-class communities and areas such as Sunder Nagri, maintained the registry between May and July. Developed alongside lawyers, doctors, and activists, the initiative sought to record the daily impacts of heatwaves on personal health, incomes, and household stability.
Seven stories from the registry were selected and presented by community members and artists, including Arshi, Abhishek, Sunita, Preeti, Ritika, and Deepali Tonk. Storyteller Sahil Kumar anchored the event after working with the narrators for eight days to shape their experiences into public performances.
Among the accounts shared was that of Haider Ali, a vendor in Meena Bazar who suffered a heat stroke and was advised 15 days of bed rest, forcing him to lose half a month of earnings. Deepali Tonk opened the narrative with poetry by Afzal Khan to illustrate the plight of labourers working through peak summer.
Another narrative shared by Ritika focused on Kanhaiya, a banana seller and president of a group of 30 vendors on Rajpur Road. The performance detailed how rising temperatures caused his fruit stock to spoil rapidly while customers delayed shopping until later hours, shrinking his income and increasing daily losses.
Naumaan Amin, Public Engagement Campaigner for Greenpeace South Asia and India, explained that the event aimed to give registry contributors a platform to articulate their struggles directly rather than presenting the heat data merely as statistics.
For participants such as Sunita, a 30-year-old resident of Sunder Nagri, the gathering provided an open space to describe the physical and financial strain caused by extreme weather. Greenpeace India stated the exercise forms part of an effort to highlight the unequal impact of rising temperatures and advocate for stronger heat action plans.
